


oh the larceny

by arcanawildcard, clairelutra



Series: proof of concept [3]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Crack, Friendship, Gen, episodic, future shuann hopefully, less of a role reversal and more of a role shuffle tbh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-07 19:44:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20315002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arcanawildcard/pseuds/arcanawildcard, https://archiveofourown.org/users/clairelutra/pseuds/clairelutra
Summary: In a world where the Phantom Thief of Hearts terrorizes the whole of psychological Japan, eight brave heroes rise against his villainy, led by the fearless and clever Goro Akechi. Together, there's no one they can't beat!Except, perhaps, the Thief himself.(Alternately: That one where Joker gets a cute little miniboss squad.)ON HIATUS





	oh the larceny

**Author's Note:**

> SO a few notes on this one:  
\- it's incomplete, and i haven't worked on it in a while. updates will be sporadic.  
\- that said, it's about 9k of fragments and near-finished chapters, so hopefully there'll be a few updates, if not _many_.  
\- this was one of the earliest persona 5 fics i managed to get past 1k with, and the characterization of joker is... _not_ the characterization i ended up settling on. read at your own risk?  
\- semi-inspired by something dora said about her early opinions on waka from okami—more or less that she HATED him because he kicked her ass 5 ways to sunday, but he was HOT and it was INFURIATING... which! is an awesome thing that i'm stealing without guilt. 'joker is infuriating but hot and all the more infuriating for it' is a fic i'm on board with.
> 
> ONTO THE SUBJECT OF HIATUSES AND PSEUDS AND POSTING:  
\- so i (clairelutra (exosolarmoon)) was on hiatus from the start of this year until hereabouts, but around april, i also started posting to arcanawildcard—all persona 5 fic and mostly shuann/akirann/renann.  
\- i've merged these two now, more or less, so you can head over to [arcanawildcard](https://archiveofourown.org/users/arcanawildcard) to see all my p5 fic and what i've been up to these past few months.  
\- i have a promise to post to arcanawildcard every wednesday, which i fully intend to continue upholding for as long as i am able.  
\- i also have a promise to post to clairelutra (exosolarmoon) every monday (which i need to bump back to every sunday so i have time to breathe), which i'm a little less attached to because two complete Things every week is a lot of complete Things. i might be flaky on that one.
> 
> to those who are following arcanawildcard: check out clairelutra (exosolarmoon) for my fic backlog, if you're so inclined!
> 
> this all goes here because i no longer have social media to post it to. WELP. here's to hoping people read this update hahaha.
> 
> ONTO THE FIC.

While a fair few of members of the motley crew standing between Joker and the Treasure looked vaguely familiar, the face of the boy at the forefront (the leader?) was niggling at the back of Joker's brain like a minnow.

A-something? Aka-... Ake-... Aki-? Where had he _seen_ him, anyway?

He was furious, whatever his name was.

"Tell me, Phantom Thief," he was saying, venom dripping from every word, "what do you believe gives _you_ the right to impose on the free will of others? They may be criminals, but vigilante justice is far from 'just.' Who are _you_ to choose who is right and who is wrong?"

The answer to that was 'I don't; a strange old man with a long nose gave me a list,' but the argument was ringing a bell. Something on TV... Ace... Cop? Prince Detective? —Detective!

"Well? I can see that you do not have much to say for yourself. At a loss for words?"

Detective Prince, high school-something, Goro... Ake-something. Goro... Goro...

Goro-whoever pulled out what was unarguably a lightsaber with a face that said that Joker was about to pay for his crimes in blood, and it finally popped into his head.

"Akechi!"

"...What?"

"High School Detective Prince Goro Akechi," Joker said, satisfied with a mystery solved. "You have a TV show, don't you?"

That threw him. "I. Well. Uh..."

"Duuuuude," muttered the boy in the skull mask. Another familiar face. Did he go to Akira's school, maybe?

"You're getting away from the point!" yelped the monster-cat-thing in a boyish voice. That one _definitely_ didn't go to Akira's school. "The _point is_ that you're going down, Phantom Thief. You'll never get your hands on this Treasure!"

High School Detective Prince Goro Akechi pulled himself together. "Right." Then, "It's 'Crow,' by the way."

"Right, code names," Joker agreed. Those were important when you were sitting in someone's psyche.

All eight of them looked unanimously put off by that, which was... pretty funny, actually.

_Note to self: agree with them as often as possible._

The red one pulled out a whip, and the spiky one raised her brass (iron?) knuckles.

"You're a threat, Phantom Thief, and we will _not_ sit around while you rob people of their senses!" said the latter, then the former followed up with, "You're going down, asshole."

Turning his attention inward, Joker found Satanael deep within himself and pulled him forward. Resistances top-to-bottom, no instadeath susceptibility, a physical repel skill, Salvation—a good starter while he figured out where their weaknesses were... if they even had any. He'd never tried to fight humans before, even if he'd theoretically known that other Persona users were out there and that they probably didn't like him.

Satanael's essence washed through him, making his skin prickle with the thrill and hum of pure _power._

Joker bared his teeth at the would-be interceptors in something that might have been a smile.

"Then let's dance."

* * *

It took longer than he would have liked, but that was only because of a bad matchup of skills and a reluctance to slash an actual human with a knife on his end.

He'd have to be better prepared next time, he mused as he stepped over the fallen bodies of his foes, seizing the shimmering briefcase Treasure on the pedestal. He doubted that this was the last he'd see of them.

"Bastard," hissed High School Detective Prince Goro Akechi A.K.A. Crow by Joker's heels. "Tell me, why are you doing this?"

Why was he doing this...? That was a pretty good question, actually.

'To avert the oncoming ruin,' was too vague to grasp; 'because it pays well,' was... not inaccurate, but not quite _accurate_ either; 'to change the world,' and, 'for a better tomorrow,' fell somewhere between the first two.

"Because it's my job," was what he finally settled on. And it was, more or less.

"What the hell decided that this is _your_ job?"

'The fact that no one else is doing it,' was the romantic answer.

"My employer," was the funnier one.

High School Detective Prince Goro Akechi A.K.A. Crow just growled.

Joker tossed him a salute and a spare Goho-M, then turned on his heel and sprinted for the exit, Treasure in hand and Palace crumbling in his wake.

**Author's Note:**

> pictured: joker trollfacing constantly.


End file.
